Silver tassels

Hello Earring People!

Here we are in May already and despite the strange times we are living in, nature carries on doing her thing. My garden is awash with flowers and blossom at the moment (I don't really garden, so this is always a source of amazement to me).

I've been enjoying taking some time to create some jewellery this past week. This particular design has been fun to make! The first pair feature aragonite -a pretty pale yellow stone which is an earth healer, apparently and symbolises truth and understanding.

I set these in little squares of silver, which I also stamped with some simple pretty lines and added the silver tassels to finish them off.

This next pair feature turquoise cabochons, and honestly -who doesn't love turquoise and silver? Such a pretty combination. And it is supposed to bring calmness and serenity, so what's not to love? I kept the setting simple for these and kept the focus on the stones, with tassels for extra prettiness.  

These will both be in my nextshowcase over on The Jewellery Show at the end of May. I'll be back in a couple of weeks.

Stay safe and well

Sue x

Hoops again!

Hello! Hope you're all keeping safe and well.

Well, in these strange times I found myself reading too much news and getting rather overwhelmed with the state of things. So, I consciously took a step back, reduced my time checking the news and spent some time at my little workbench. The result? Feeling much better.

Now, I've mentioned in my  last contribution to the blog that my silver stash is dwindling, as my main supplier has shut their doors for a little while to keep their staff safe. And rightly so. So I have been looking at every little tiny bit of silver i have with new eyes! How can I turn this into something pretty? Will I have enough to make a pair of these? I have very little sheet left, and a little more wire -so, I thought I'd make some pretty hoops.

I love hoops. They feature in oh so many of my designs -old and new. Love their versatility -how they can be the main feature of a design, or simply an accompaniment to a striking component -be that an art bead or a gemstone.

Now, this pair are a gift for a fabulous friend who has cheered me on in my silver jewellery endeavours! They started out as a simple bit of wire, soldered at the top and shaped on a mandrel, with a little light hammering to harden their shape. I had some leftover semi-circles of silver from an earlier design, which just needed to be filed to to same shape and size, and then hammered to give them that pretty texture. Finally, soldered onto the hoops, oxidised and buffed to a shine -for a contemporary, but edgy look. Hope she likes them!

These others are made from slightly thicker pieces of sterling silver wire. I found a piece of beaded wire in my stash that I'd completely forgotten about, so once the hoops had been soldered and shaped. I cut the beaded wire in two, and wrapped it along the bottom half of each hoop. I made some earwires for this pair, and had a little of the beaded wire left, so added them around the join, just to embelish them and echo the main design.

So there we are! And if you don't have a torch for soldering, hoops are still so easy to make -you just need to know how to wrap wire, and have something to wrap the wire around! 

Hope you are finding something creative to do to keep you calm in these difficult times. Keep safe and well, and I'll be back in a couple of weeks

Sue

Turquoise

Hello everyone.

Here we are mid-way through March already -how did that happen? I've been busy making some new pieces for a showcase in April. Since I've been working  with silver, everything takes so much more time. Sometimes it all comes together easily...sometimes, not!

These 2 pairs of earrings behaved themselves  pretty well! The first pair are for my lovely mother-in-law, whose birthday is in a couple of days time. She has several pairs of my earrings in her jewellery box (poor thing!) but this is the first time I've made her some studs. I recently bought some little turquoise cabs, and they are such a lovely colour! I made some little sterling silver bezel cups for them and soldered some posts to the back and voila!

So I thought I'd make some other earrings for my showcase using these cabs. Who doesn't love turquoise, right? This time -I made some teardrops from silver wire, which i textured and set the cabs onto. I thought I'd solder some posts at the top -to give them clean lines and a contemporary feel. These ones are oxidised to bring out the texture.

This second pair will be available over on The Jewellery Show on Facebook in April. 

Hope everyone is staying healthy. I'll be back in a couple of weeks

Sue

Rock pools

Hello earring people :-)

Here we are, hurtling towards the end of October already, and I should be designing with Autumn in mind....but.... I had these glorious blue ceramic rock pools, by the one and only Petra Carpreau. She makes these beauties from Earthstone and fills them with glass,  coats them with fine silver and fires them -creating beautiful, individual rustic pieces. Now I know the blue is perhaps much more suitable for summer (it makes me think of the Mediterranean) but I just couldn't resist.

I've been taking a course in silver jewellery and learning all about soldering and I've been loving it! I'm still a novice and everything takes me three times longer than i think it will...

I wanted to create something that would co-ordinate with the rock pools. I took some sterling silver sheet and spent a happy couple of hours sawing, sanding and texturing it, and soldering jump rings and ear posts to the little squares I created. Finally, I oxidised them and rubbed them back a little to create a reasonable match with the fine silver on the rock pools.

So, there we have it! Not autumnal at all, but sometimes you just need to take inspiration from whatever catches your eye. See you next month

Sue
Utterly Lovely Stuff

In Praise of Patina.

Today I'd like to welcome as our guest my very good friend and partner in crime Lucy Haslam. For those of you who don't know Lucy - she's not only one of the kindest people you could wish to meet but also a basher of metal and twiddler of wire par excellence. She has made me some of the most innovative components I've ever used in my own work. But she also makes jewellery herself, so let's shine a light on her!

                                                                Lindsay x 

Hi, I'm Lucy from Faerystone and I would like to thank these lovely ladies for asking me to join you today. I've been making jewellery and findings for a few years now and love nothing more than twiddling wire and bashing metal. When I was asked to guest here I had soooo many ideas, but what stuck in my mind was patina....I love it! 

Both these pairs are made with sterling silver wire and sheet which I have cut, soldered and hammered. The little Ruffles are discs of silver that I have twiddled and bashed to give them a wrinkly feel. The little discs have been dimpled and the rings hammered and soldered.

 

The thing is both sets are made using the exact same silver wire, metal and gemstones (well, ok I did substitute black onyx instead of rock crystal on the dark ones) but other than that the rock crystal rondelles and the labradorite faceted drops are the same.
Here the silver is left pure and clean, the gemstones look frosty and clear. Glamorous sparkly party earrings. 

 

But as soon as I add my dark patina they change the mood - dark and gothic, the gemstones look misty and moody, the silver now darkened has a deeper sheen, a darker soul.

 

 

And this is what I love about patina, a bit like me and my friend Lindsay Philipson, she's all dark and goth and I'm all light and magical lololo. (ed. - what rubbish) 

Thank you for having me ladies, its been such fun. These earrings will be available in our A Christmas Carol show on The Very Nice Group page. It would be lovely to see you there.

 

Love Lucy.

 

My Etsy shop

 

 

Around the Galaxy

What does the sky in your area looks like at night? Do you see the stars? Do you see the space station?

We live in a small quiet cul-de-sac where there's not much light pollution. We're very lucky in that. We're surrounded by large spruce trees (mainly). It's peaceful and quiet.

Each Summer and Fall, we enjoy sitting outside by the fire pit, camping style, and quietly gaze at the stars in the night sky. I have my lounge chair, my blankets (so the mossies don't bite me!), and I lay back and look at the night sky.

It feels so wondrous to me to look up and catch a glimpse at the vastness of our Universe... I love the energy and ethereal beauty of it all. I remember fondly a visit to NASA when I was around 8 years old. It blew my mind. I loved it! I also remember going to the (then) Planetarium Dow in Montreal to learn about the planets and the stars. It's was so beautiful and so inspiring!

That's how I try to live my life - Nathalie Lesage

It's not quite warm enough here yet to sit by the fire pit, and so I dream of what's to come. This is what inspired my "Galaxy Collection", based on the patterns created when I did this pack of Mokume Gane with polymer clay and silver metal leaf, recently:

I wire wrapped the top portion of my polymer clay drops with sterling silver wire, and added in a round 'moon' by the way of a smooth round Czech glass bead. It's half-clear, half-silver, and sparkles a lot in person.

The rings and metal beads all around, to me, are like various space stations. Think far away bases where space travelers all around the Galaxy can stop to get supplies, and meet others on their journey.

Soon the weather will be warm enough so that we can go explore the night sky. I can't wait!

I will be listing these earrings and other jewelry components from my Galaxy collection in my shop over the next few days.

Live long and prosper.... and enjoy the stars in your sky!

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
Visit my Jewelry & Handmade Components shop on Etsy: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Digital Download shop on Etsy: The Crafty Tribe

Quiet Moments and Elegance

As we've been simplifying our life for the 15 months, we've been even more aware of the preciousness of special moments. There's a certain softness and peacefulness that moves into this type of life transformation.

Winter peacefulness - Photo: Nathalie Lesage

It can be a scenery, a glimpse of something surreal, a feeling of a magical moment. When we collect too many physical things, it takes space not only in the space surrounding us, but it also takes up space in our mind.

In a world where we're encouraged with every single commercial on TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, online adds, etc, to 'consume' 'consume' 'consume'... more, more, more, it's good to take a break and re-evaluate what we truly need. Turns out there's a lot of things we don't need at all.

Less is more.

So in that theme, I've decided to design this simple pair of earrings:

The blue-flash Labradorite gemstones remind me of the picture (above) that I took on one of our road trips up North. I've set these gemstones on a pair of lilac drop shape Amethyst gemstone sterling silver headpins (with the cute little trio of dots/detail at the bottom) that I've been hoarding for many years. I only have a couple more.

Although it's hard to see the color of those Amethyst gemstones, the Swarovski Crystals that I've suspended on the Anodized Aluminum rings are the same color... a soft lilac, cool and peaceful.

At the top, I've used a pair of handmade Polymer Clay beads (wavy textured croissants beads, in black and silver) made by the love of my life, my husband Darren :)

Long, Lightweight, Slender, Simple, Quiet Elegance that catches the light... you have to stop and take the time to get a glimpse of the blue flash in the Labradorite when the light hits them 'just so'. It's like a little secret that only a select few will get to enjoy.

Do you have any plans to lighten up your surroundings this Spring? Try it and see how it feels!

Wishing you a peaceful and quiet relaxing day!

Thank you very much for stopping by :)

You can find these earrings in my Etsy shop HERE.

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
My Garden Of Love on Etsy
The Crafty Tribe on Etsy

Farewell Post by Cindy's Art & Soul; Words, Emotions and Jewelry ...

I recently read an article/comment that indicated words don't have a place in jewelry.

I will go out on a limb here and say they do. For me, they definitely do. How about you?

Words have power and wearing them is a way of tapping into that power. Others will read it and they too can be influenced by the positive energy you choose to bring to life.

To breathe it in to absorb the positive nature of all that they hold...

I have used words, positive affirmations and power symbols on my beads and in my jewelry since the beginning. For more on this story I invite you to read my personal blog here: http://cindypack.blogspot.com

Courage & Strength. Rune Earrings. Sold.

Thing is... the written word, be it direct or symbolic (such as runes) can reach us on some deep level that we may not even realize when it happens.

 This is why you see words in my jewelry. 

If a word holds power for you, wear it!

With all the hate flying around lately, I find myself wanting to put the word LOVE everywhere. To stamp out the meanness/madness. 

And so it is that I bring you my recent inspirational earrings with LOVE. 

As I mentioned, this is my farewell post. It has been great fun writing for the blog and being a part of this talented group. Now It's time for me to move on to my next adventure, wherever that may be. 

You may catch my personal blog at:
http://cindypack.blogspot.com/

Connect with me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cindysartandsoul/ 

or on Instagram,  https://www.instagram.com/cindysartandsoul/
 
Or get my newsletter here:
 Cindy's Art and Soul Newsletter Sign up

See you later!
be kind. and wear your words!

  
 

 

PEARLS OF WISDOM

 Pearls. Calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, found in the soft tissue of molluscs. Doesn't sound too romantic does it? Yet what woman doesn't love them? Timeless, classic, graceful, with a lustre that illuminates the skin. 

                                Pearl - a metaphor for something rare, fine and valuable. 
 

Rustic, cultured, biwa, keishi; natural or dyed - I use them all in my designs. But there are times when you need a certain colour - a perfect match. It's then I turn to Swarowski crystal pearls. These beautiful new leaves from Helen Backhouse in shades of rose quartz and serenity (why didn't I have my hands on these last year when Pantone made it the colour of 2016?) demand the perfect soft pink that is 352 Powder Rose. A simple yet stylish pair of hand forged fine silver earwires and bob 's your uncle. Perfect Spring earrings - light and feminine.

 

 

 

 

 

So how do you effect your match without expensive guesswork? Well, Swarowski have this clever  resource that has every shade of pearl in every shape and size all in one little bag, with a chart. I'd thoroughly recommend you get yourselves one if you use pearls regularly - mine has been invaluable. In the UK you can get one from Jillybeads and they're surprisingly inexpensive. And a good range of the pearls - priced singly too.  I'm sure one of our US friends will identify a source over there.
Don't confuse them with cheap glass pearls that chip easily - these have a high resistance coating that lasts through environmental influences.   

 

 

 

       So there's your Pearl of Wisdom - a piece of advice. You can never have too many resources to hand.

 

See you next time

 

Lindsay x

 

 

                                                                      My Etsy shop

                                                                  My Facebook page
 

First And Last

I'm drafting this post on 21st December - some days before it's due to be posted. It's one of the last work-related things I have to do before shutting down for 'the holidays'. And boy, do I ever need to shut down...

But it's also a first. I'm taking up contributing regularly again. Well, fairly regularly: I'm taking on one of Cindy's days, so I'll be posting once a month. 

It's nearly a year since I stopped doing a regular post. I needed more time to focus on developing my silver work. Today I'm sharing some simple pairs made with my ceramic drops and silver post components. (I'm sure there must be a more elegant term...)

I made a number of these recently and most have sold. However, there are a few pairs left available in my shop. 

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a whole heap of the best of things in 2017, 

Claire

www.somethingtodo.etsy.com

www.somethingtodowithyourhands.com

New Dress - New Jewelry

My brother is getting married this weekend, which seems like a fine reason for me to treat myself to a new dress.

 And with a new dress, comes the need for matching jewelry. Its hard to really see the pattern in the fabric from a distance.  Here's a close-up.  Lots of pretty jewel tones to work with in designing coordinating jewelry. 

Of course I'm still making jewelry the night before our flight to L.A. for the wedding. Its 9:30 p.m. and the earrings are done.  The necklace is only about half complete and I haven't even packed yet.  At this rate, I may be finishing the necklace in the hotel hours before the big event.  Oy !

The saucer shaped beads are Thai Hill Tribe beads that I bought long ago when such things were affordable!  I dangled 3 lengths of silver chain beneath the silver beads.

I placed Swarovski crystals above the silver beads and wire wrapped crystals to the end of each chain dangle.  The crystals are turquoise but they have an emerald green AB finish on one side, so they accent the 2 main colors in the dress.  And people keep telling me that L.A. style includes more bling than I'm used to.  So I definitely have the bling thing going on here.

 The necklace has Swarovski crystals too and some beautiful lampwork glass beads.  I'll share it on my blog after the wedding. 
Hope you are enjoying sunny weather!  L.A, will be hot!

Linda Landig Jewelry

Stillness in my soul

I had heard and read many times that when we go through some challenging times, it's like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It's not an easy process to break through the cocoon and spread your wings free, but the result is certainly worth it in the end.

So, today, I want to show you the design that I've created in my own design evolution...

Stillness Earrings by Nathalie Lesage of NatLJ.com

These earrings feature a gorgeous pair of luminous lampwork glass beads (I apologize, I did not note down the artist who made these as I bought them several years ago), a pair of my handmade .999 pure silver (PMC3) leaf charms, sparkling Swarovski Crystals on earth tones hemp cords and hypo-allergenic Niobium ear wires:

I love the explosion of color that occurs when the sunlight hits these earrings... 

just like the wings of a blue butterfly in the sun :)

As a jewelry designer, I've worked with many different types of supplies, and learned many techniques over the years, all with the end goal of "finding my own voice" in terms of design. 

As hard as the past 5 months (already) have been for me, I feel that this whole experience is helping me hone in to my own 'design' voice. It seems that I've finally found it.

This feels like 'me', 1000000%.

I will be exploring this style further. Exciting times ahead ;)

Many thanks for stopping by to read...  

You can find these earrings listed HERE on my NatLJ.com website.

Nathalie

Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

Alabama Petticoats

Alabama Petticoats

I have been trying to force myself to use yellow--and not cheat, and use "mustard," or "saffron," or "butterscotch" and try to claim it's yellow--I mean, real, honest-to-God YELLOW. As in Tweety Bird. As in Big Bird. As in Sponge Bob. And here is me, above, using African recycled glass discs in Minion Yellow. I combined them with cool ice blue African recycled glass tulip beads, stacking them for a little more drama (and hey! Petticoats!) Just the two colors together seemed a little lonely, so I added some Indonesian glass beads in turquoise. I love these three colors together. There is something French Country about it that seems to make the yellow go down better.

I capped the yellow glass discs with rustic petaled beadcaps in sterling silver, and capped the petticoats with a pair of my own embossed sterling caps; each petticoat is fastened to the glass disc via one of my sterling silver paddle headpins. I made--as is my habit--the earwires myself and added a couple more turquoise glass beads to pull it all together.

Glass tulip beads from Happy Mango Beads.
Yellow recycled glass discs from Afrobeadia.
Petal beadcaps from Cathy Dailey.

Visit Keirsten and her work at Lune on Etsy.

Winter Moon

On Saturday, I had the chance to participate in a local Arts & Crafts Sale. It was wonderful to meet local women and their families, and get their feedback on my work.

I haven't had the chance to participate in such events too often in the past, but I do my best to join in the fun as often as I can. There's absolutely NOTHING more precious than receiving real-time, face-to-face feedback from potential buyers.

And inspired by their feedback, and by the beautiful Winter Moon that greeted me on Sunday morning, I have designed these pretty Tanzanite Earrings:

Tanzanite Earrings inspired by the Winter Moon

The women that I spoke with mentioned that they loved gemstone earrings, but that they preferred shorter, more delicate designs (shorter than 2" in total), and it dawned on me that a lot of the earrings I've been making lately were longer than 2". 

It really doesn't take much to get over 2" in length, counting the ear wires.... So I listened to them, and came up with these lightweight little hoops :)

Soft Lavender Tanzanite Gemstones are a beautiful go-with-anything neutral shade

Yesterday morning, when I woke up, I opened the bedroom window's blinds, and found this bright  (almost) full moon, greeting me, and the sky had beautiful painted wisps of lavender, light blue and pink. It was such a beautiful sight. 

I knew right there and then that I had to make earrings inspired by that gift from nature.

I really had a great time meeting everyone at the show on the weekend. If you don't normally do Arts & Craft Sales, I encourage you to go out and meet women and ask for feedback on your designs. Sometimes, they see something that we don't...

You can find these Tanzanite Earrings here on my website...

Thank you for your time! Have a wonderful day :)

Nathalie

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

That 70's Vibe

My husband and I are leaving the full-time RVing to move into an apartment later this week, and the building is older (but nicely maintained) and it has a definite "70's vibe" to it, which I love!

It takes me back to some good times, and looking forward to more good memories

to be created with my love :)

I really enjoy the colors and styles of that era, so I created an outfit on Polyvore as my inspiration:

That 70's Vibe Arizona Shades by nathalie-lesage featuring a straw hat

And I made these earrings to match... Rustic shades of the 70's in Arizona: 

I just loooooooove this stash of rustic Tourmaline nuggets,

and how they change colors depending on the light.

These two have rich shades of caramel and mossy green, plus a hint of peach.

Just yummilicious earthy tones, with a bit of funky 70's groove.

The artisan lampwork beads have various shades of caramel, cream, silver glass and turquoise.

These earrings are not all that different than a few pairs I've showcased before,

but every pair has sold out so far... I had to make another pair. Each one is unique. 

You can find this pair on my website HERE.

Thanks for looking! Enjoy your week :)

Nathalie Lesage

Metalsmith & Jewelry Artist

http://www.NathalieLesageJewelry.com

 

Northern Lights

I love Fluorite and I love pairing it with silver! I bought a strand of these pillow faceted gemstones several years ago and I use them very sparingly (some might call it hoarding!). I oxidized the sterling ear wires, washers and wire with liver of sulphur. One of the things that I find most interesting about using gemstones in my jewelry is the healing powers associated with many of them. Fluorite is known as the "multi-tasking" gemstone. It is what they call multi-dimensional, in that it advances the highest aspect of the mind and balances the negative and positive aspects of the mind and ego which allows one to experience inner peace. Sounds good to me! It is also such a gorgeous gemstone.

Picture found at Shimmerlings.com

These earrings are available here on my website.

Have a fabulous weekend! Oh, and remember next Friday Erin will be posting an inspiration for our monthly "We're All Ears" challenge. This month's challenge was a lot of fun so be sure to check it out. 

Thanks,

Kristy Abner

Kristy's Kreations